Page 70 Le Gala 2008 - Franco-American School of New York

Le coup de maître triomphal de
Matthias ! | Matthias Makes
a Slam-Dunk in the Pouch!
La salle 309, à deux pas de la bibliothèque de l’école
secondaire, n’a rien d’extraordinaire. Mais c’est de là
que Matthias Wickenburg ’09 a participé au
concours français du Kangourou des mathématiques,
en mars dernier, …et remporté la neuvième place
mondiale ! « Je pense que c’est la chance, ironise-t-il,
j’étais dans un bon jour et la chance s’y est mise
Matthias a fini 9ème
sur 8 000 participants
de Première S !
Matthias ranked ninth
out of 8,000
11th grade S students!
Growing Together Evoluer ensemble
38
There’s nothing magical about
room 309 across from the
Upper School’s library. But it
was in this
classroom that
Matthias
Wickenburg
’09 competed
in the French
Kangaroo
Mathematics
Contest last
March, the
results of which ranked him
ninth in the world. “I think I
just got lucky,” he grinned. “I
had a good day, but there was
some luck mixed in there, too.”
According to his math teacher,
Jean-René Guyot, luck has
nothing to do with it. “Matthias
is an excellent student, and he
is extremely talented in math
and physics.”
This math exam is the largest
scholastic contest in the world and
FASNY students in Grades 6 and 8 are required to
participate, while those in Grades 7 and 9 through 11 are
given the option. Launched in 1991, the Kangaroo boasts
impressive numbers of participants. This year, almost 3.5
million francophone students from Grades 3 through 12
participated. Matthias ranked ninth out of 8,000 11th
grade S students. “What is special about Matthias’s
ranking, as well, is that he was competing against students
only enrolled in the Science track,” Mr. Guyot explained.